Keeping your Instagram feed fresh with diverse content can be taxing—especially when your time and budget are tight. So what happens when you’re feeling a creative block, too?
To help you create Instagram content, I’ve put together seven ideas with examples that really work, so you can try them out for yourself.
First, let’s take a quick look at what the most successful Instagram posts cover.
Let’s assume that you don’t have big brand’s budget or advertising revenue. Now, let’s look at some ideas that won’t break your budget but will nab a lot of engagement.
If you have a product that can be demonstrated, Instagram Stories and saved Stories are perfect placements for your tutorials. A how-to tutorial will provide your Instagram fans with plenty of info about your product (its design, packaging, colors, and size) while also giving insider tips and tricks.
A how-to post would work well for beauty products, fashion, crafts, hair, cookery, tech, or any other gadget that can be demoed.
Clinique rocked the how-to theme with 5 Genius Foundation Hacks. (This is something you can do for your own products.) The key is to keep your how-to simple, focused, and fun. Remember, your aim is to make people aspire to own your product!
How to Ace a How-to Post
Behind-the-scenes photos and videos are ideal for giving your fans a feel for your brand personality, amazing team members, and awesome working environment. They also foster transparency making you appear more trustworthy and authentic.
At Contentworks Agency, we dedicate our Instagram feed to “behind-the-scenes” footage capturing the real and funny moments of working in digital marketing. Here’s Business Director Niki fronting out a dinosaur over coffee:
How to Ace a Behind-the-Scenes Post
Feeling brave? If you are, then AMAs are a tried and tested Instagram page idea for you to explore. They are also highly engaging and easy to shoot from a good camera phone in your office.
You can do an AMA with your team members, bosses or technical team. Just make sure you have people with a good knowledge of your brand and its products. You can keep the AMA to one topic such as “Ask our CMO about our rebrand” or keep it open for any questions.
General AMA sessions are a great way to learn more about your audience’s interests and can help form future content if you notice recurring questions or themes.
I love Siemens Gamesa who got just the right balance of hype on its AMA. The company has a team-centric Instagram account that makes the company appear open, caring, and honest.
How to Ace an AMA Post
A word of caution: Think carefully about doing this type of Instagram content if you’ve recently had a PR crisis. If you choose to go ahead, you should expect questions to be about the crisis, and be ready to answer them.
An account takeover can be a little like the AMA or it can be completely different. How you do this type of post depends on your brand and how adventurous you are!
To do a takeover, hand the camera over to an interesting individual on certain days or for special events. If you make it a regular thing (for example, #TakeoverTuesdays), you’re set for a regular Tuesday content plan.
If you’re working with influencers, then consider this to be cross marketing, and expect to increase your channel’s followers and engagement. You will attract fans who might otherwise not have found your brand (which is awesome).
Takeovers create a sense of urgency because the brand’s followers and the influencer’s followers have a very short window of time to catch the takeover live.
When beer brand Stella Artois teamed up with Matt Damon in an effort to help end the global water crisis, it was an absolutely epic Instagram Account Takeover. Now, we don’t have Matt on our side (*cries a little inside*), but that doesn’t mean social media managers can’t steal the style of this account takeover.
How to Ace an Account Takeover
Whenever I’m tagged by our content manager Kelly on Instagram, the post is always about food like juicy burgers, beautiful ice creams, syrupy delicious waffles. Why? We love food—so does everyone else!
So, if you’re running a café or restaurant, posting tantalizing photos of starters, desserts, and cocktails is absolutely the way to go.
And even if you’re not a food brand, you can still do this type of post. Sharing photos of your team lunch, a company birthday cake, or branded cupcakes will absolutely get eyes on your posts. Why not make it a regular thing? You could travel around the office to see what everyone’s eating for lunch or tag local eateries that your team likes to visit.
How to Ace a Food Post
Have you tried Boomerang yet? It’s an Instagram camera app that creates short, auto-looping videos. (It’s a bit like a GIF, but those are less easy for Instagram.) Your brand can experiment with Boomerang to introduce people, demonstrate a skill or technique, or show off a new product.
Mumm Napa Winery uses the short looping videos on its Instagram channel to show the wine being opened, fizz bubbling up, and glasses being clinked. This type of post ideal for these little snapshots in time. The great thing about Boomerang is it creates a studio feel without the need for expensive equipment. You can easily stage the perfect Boomerang from your office.
How to Ace a Boomerang Post
Instagram slideshows are great because you don’t need to make a video. So, if you don’t have the videographer and the studio but you want the effect, then this is for you.
Here’s how you to make a slideshow post:
And you’re done!
Slideshows work well for countdowns, top 10 lists, and step-by-step instructions. Slideshow posts are also incredible for showing before and after transformations or action shots that may be difficult to film. Check out Jason Paul, legendary parkour athlete and how he uses slideshow combinations of photo and video.
How to Ace a Slideshow post
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Instagram provides an ideal platform for you to get creative, and you don’t need a big ad budget to get your brand noticed. Keep these Instagram content ideas bookmarked for those moments when you feel creatively blocked.
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